(By Tsem Rinpoche and Pastor Adeline) Introduction The Buddhist monk Bodhidharma (5th – 6th century, Simple Chinese: 菩提达摩 or 菩提達磨) was a student of Prajnatara of India, the 27th patriarch in a transmission of Buddhist teachings. As such he is considered to be the 28th patriarch in an uninterrupted lineage of great masters that extends back all the way to Buddha Shakyamuni himself. Since Bodhidharma is credited with transmitting these teachings in China, he is regarded as the first Chinese patriarch of what would become Chan Buddhism. Bodh...

Read more »

11

(By Tsem Rinpoche and Pastor Adeline) In the mid-19th century, in Fujian, Qing China, a woman from the Xiao family gave birth to a bag of flesh. From this flesh was born the baby Master Xuyun (Simplified Chinese: 虚云). Having given birth to a bag of flesh, his mother was frightened and overwhelmed with desperation. She passed away not long after having given birth. An old man who sold medicine managed to solve the mystery the day after the birth. He cut open the bag of flesh and took out the baby boy. He was named Xiao Guyan (Simplified Chinese:...

Read more »

28

（中文分享请往下看） On July 21, 2016, 16 of us came together to engage in a retreat on the sacred practice of Manjushri. It was a four-day retreat in between work and assignments. By the end of the retreat we had each recited 100,000 mantras. Collectively we accumulated 1.6 million mantras altogether. During the retreat, our Guru, His Eminence the 25th Tsem Rinpoche shared a message with us on the state of the mind and the benefit of Manjushri’s practice. “Outer obstacles (financial, sickness, fear, disasters, etc.) arise from our own actions. Actions a...

Read more »

31

(By Tsem Rinpoche and Pastor Adeline) Dear friends, It is with great humility that I have been given the opportunity to present to you this research on vows on His Eminence the 25th Tsem Rinpoche’s sacred space. In Buddhism, the practice of upholding vows is one of the Three Principle forms of Buddhist training...

Read more »

27